Read more on:

Our latest and probably most foolish build involves recreating one of the world’s finest car ads. Well, not the ad, but the car. And not the exact car, but its modern equivalent. Back in 2003, Peugeot released ‘The Sculptor’ ad, showcasing a young man’s attempts to reshape an old Ambassador to look like a 206.

Seeing as Peugeot now owns the Ambassador brand, we decided to do the same: modifying a Hindustan Ambassador until it looks a bit like a Peugeot 208 GTI. Have watch of the video above to get an idea, and click here for update number one…

Update two: we come to you with some excellent news. A donor car has be located and purchased and the project is already well underway. In terms of timing, we shall be heading out to Pune, India - to put the finishing touches to the car, take it for its maiden voyage and see if we can hash together a video recreation of the glorious advert that inspired the whole thing – in January.

Until then the talented team in the automotive design department at the D Y Patil University in Pune (that for some reason agreed to take on this outrageous folly), are welding and cutting away trying to make our vision a reality. And against all odds, things would appear to be heading in the right direction.

Take a browse through the pictures and you can see the donor Ambassador in all its glory, before all the body panels were removed, the interior was pulled out and the angle grinder was unleashed, removing the entire roof and windscreen. Unfortunately the roof and windscreen of a Hindustan Ambassador look nothing like the roof and windscreen of a Peugeot 208 GTI, which is why they had to go.

Welded in place, and held up by some makeshift scaffolding, are the roof and windscreen from an unidentified scrap car – the closest in shape and angle to the Peugeot that would actually fit the Ambassador’s width.

At the rear, yet more witchcraft is at work. Having chopped the notchback boot clean off, the team set about milling an entire 208 rear end from foam. From this a mould has been made, from which a fibreglass 208 booty will be fashioned and affixed to the Ambassador’s back end.

As we speak, a bevy of parts from Peugeot’s HQ in France – including actual headlights, wheels, badges and the grille from a 208 GTI - are stuck in Indian customs. Should they ever be released, these will be the finishing trinkets that make our Ambassador passable as a Peugeot hot-hatch… but there’s a long way to go until then. Stay tuned for more updates as the build continues to take shape.

BBC Worldwide is a commercial company that is owned by the BBC (and just the BBC). No money from the licence fee was used to create this website. The profits we make from it go back to BBC programme-makers to help fund great new BBC programmes.